Van Halen famously is one of the few bands ever to replace one singer (David Lee Roth) with another of similar stature (Sammy Hagar) and not only survive the change, but also go on to match, if not exceed, the success of the original edition.

In 2009, the Newsboys' singer (and main songwriter) Peter Furler left the band, leaving the remaining trio of keyboardist/bassist Jeff Frankenstein, drummer Duncan Phillips and guitarist Jody Davis to pick up the pieces.

Like Van Halen, the Newsboys found a new vocalist in Michael Tait, whose credentials matched those the Newsboys amassed during its initial 24 years. Over that span, the group from Queensland, Australia, won five Dove Awards, the Christian music industry's equivalent of a Grammy, and released nine albums that all went Top 5 on the Christian music chart, with four hitting No. 1.

Tait began his career in the Christian rap/pop trio DC Talk, which had three albums that topped 1 million copies sold — "Free At Last" (1992), "Jesus Freak" (1995) and "Supernatural" (1998). Those albums won DC Talk three Grammy Awards and more than a dozen Dove Awards.

Still, Frankenstein says the newly revamped group knew being able to sustain its success was anything but a sure thing.

"I think whenever you change lead singers, it's probably one of the hardest things that a band can do," Frankenstein says in a phone interview. "I think we knew we had about one year there where it was kind of like make it or break it. Either people are going to see it and they're going to be like 'Nah, that's not as good' or they're going to be like 'Wow, this is really cool. I like where this is going.'"

Fans were in the latter camp. When the new edition of the Newsboys released its first album, "Born Again," in 2010, it debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard magazine album chart, becoming the highest charting Newsboys album.

Since then, the group's momentum has grown, with an even more successful 2011 album, "God's Not Dead," followed in fall 2013 with the studio CD "Restart."

One of the major reasons for the success, Frankenstein says, is a key decision made after Tait joined the group. Initially, Furler had said that while he would no longer tour with the Newsboys, he would continue to write and produce songs for the group.

That didn't happen.

"Peter and all of us are still friends to this day," Frankenstein says. "We still got together and hung out, had dinner together. Everything was on really good terms. But I think when Peter, I think he just felt that it was best, after seeing what was happening, it was best if he just got out of the way a little bit. I think that's kind of what happened. It was nothing personal."

Instead, the group members decided to look outside of the group for songwriting and production contributions. As a result, while Tait has had co-writing credits on some songs, the group's three post-Furler albums have featured extensive involvement from outside songwriters and producers.

"It was kind of like a thing of 'Hey, if someone's going to come in and co-write with us and it's going to make a better product, why wouldn't you do that?' " Frankenstein says. "It was just a different mentality and it really freed up everybody to be themselves, in so many different ways. That was cool. I think it was a really good thing.

"Even if you look at bands like U2, Bono doesn't sit there and try to create an entire album by himself. He brings in Daniel Lanois and some of the most brilliant minds in the world to even make it greater than it ever could be. So kind of employing that strategy was very good for us."

For "Restart," the Newsboys set an ambitious goal — to create an album that would be different from anything in the group's catalog, as well as Christian music as a whole.

"I think Christian music has changed a lot," Frankenstein says. "A lot of the more successful records are worship records, which obviously there's nothing wrong with that. We've done quite a bit of that style of music as well. But we just kind of felt like it would be great to make a statement and make a pop record that would be from a production standpoint on par with anything on the radio, something that could stand up with any pop music, but still carry that power of a gospel message.

"And it involved a lot of songwriting, a lot of people, a lot of mixes, a lot of meticulous analyzing of things," he says. "I'm not saying that we totally accomplished that goal, but I think it's a great pop record."

Frankenstein isn't overstating the effort that went into "Restart."

Work on the album spanned two years and many of the songs involved three or more writers. The main songwriter/producers on the album — Joshua Silverberg, Christopher Stevens and David Garcia — had not worked previously with the Newsboys.

"We're on the road for like 200 days a year," Frankenstein says. "So Josh, Chris, and all of those producers, it was more like a team effort, guys that could constantly be in contact with us. We're on the road and we could be bouncing tracks back and forth between people and producers."

The time and effort paid off. "Restart" has the glossy production quality one hears in albums by the Katy Perrys, Lady Gagas and Rihannas of the world. Songs like "Fishers Of Men," "That's How You Change The World" and the title track feature trademarks of top 40 pop — music built around synthesizers and computer-generated instrumentation, big synthetic beats and sugary vocal melodies.

"Those uptempo tracks are balanced by several ballads — "We Believe," "Enemy," "One Word" and "That Home" — the latter two of which use organic instrumentation more than the rest of the CD.

The Newsboys spent most of the winter headlining the biggest multi-act package tour in Christian rock, Winter Jam, and is now on a headlining tour, which means the group will be able to play a longer show than the 45-minute sets groups play on Winter Jam. Still, Frankenstein says, with a 20-year catalog of music, making up a set list is a challenge.

"You have a lot of fans that know you from different eras and different times and different albums," he says. "But I think, considering where the band is right now and the sort of new era with Michael that's been going for five years and has been very successful for us, I think we primarily focus on a lot of the new stuff. But then again, there's even a lot of new stuff."